Mexico Stocks Down After Friday Local Flash-Crash; Peso Weaker

Mexican stocks were in negative territory early Monday after a series of erroneous trades pulled the market’s benchmark index sharply lower in the prior session’s final minutes of trade.

The IPC index of Mexico’s most-traded shares was recently down 133 points, or 0.3%, to 39004 points on volume of 26 million shares traded worth 720 million pesos ($55 million). The peso was also losing ground against the U.S. dollar, at MXN13.1995 compared with MXN13.1780 at the close Friday, as rising tensions in Europe continue to boost the greenback against major currencies.

Mexico’s stock exchange said the local brokerage house of Bulltick Capital Markets on Friday entered incorrect sell prices for 13 issues into the electronic trading system, which knocked the IPC index down by more than 770 points within a few minutes.